Two former prized prospects who are now complete failures enter, one former prized prospect who is still a complete failure leaves.

Since it hasn’t been mentioned, Eduardo Nunez is in town. The early talk is Berkman to DL, but could be someone else DL or DFA.

Fat Elvis is really paying huge dividends.

Kearns DHes while Posada catches a day game after a night game?  OK.

Say Berkman is going to the DL; that still doesn’t explain why you’d want Nunez and Pena both on the team at the same time.  Makes me wonder about Rodriguez to the DL.

that still doesn’t explain why you’d want Nunez and Pena both on the team at the same time.  Makes me wonder about Rodriguez to the DL.

I’m getting more of a pinch hit with Alex, and then replace with Nunez type vibe.

while Posada catches a day game after a night game?  OK.

Didn’t notice that until you brought it up. Hope maybe Posado is getting healthier?

[4] [5] Girardi seems to be wedded to the idea that Posada catches CC and Hughes.

Hope maybe Posado is getting healthier?

Or they are as sick of Cervelli as we are.

LoHud:

Lance Berkman’s ankle injury is not believed to be serious, and the Yankees don’t expect Alex Rodriguez to go on the disabled list, but the team did not want to go any longer with Francisco Cervelli as their fifth infielder.

“There’s only so long you’re comfortable going with no backup infielder,” Brian Cashman said. “It’s nothing serious on either one of them.”

RAB has: Ivan Nova gave up a run on five hits in 6.2 innings. He struck out seven but walked four, and with a 12-3 ERA with a 2.86 ERA, he could be in line for a few Bronx starts. His Minor League equivalences before last night show a FIP of 4.78 and an unimpressive 1.6 K:BB rate.

The fanboy in me still wants Nova out there, but there seems to be enough countervailing evidence that he might not be as good as his Ks or ERA suggest. Well, I guess it’s whether his FIP and BB rate, plus the opinion of folks in the e-verse, would make Nova better than what Moseley puts up is the chief question.

SG, how hard is it to include formatting buttons for the comment box? I go mostly with italics when quoting, but I don’t know, maybe blockquotes and certainly a link button would make commenting easier/clearer?

Just asking since those features seem readily available in most other places, in which case, I’m thinking (probably wrongly) that it shouldn’t be too complicated.

I shouldn’t really ask, since I’ll probably still use italics anyway. But ...

Michael “I don’t eat that” Kay says Fat Elvis to the DL.

[9] I think Nova gets some September starts, especially if the Yankees can open some distance in the WC (and/or division) race.  He’s still only 24.  I noticed his MLE’s yesterday.  That’s not bad, like 4th starter territory.  He could use some more refinement of his secondary pitches, and a little better command/control.  But I think he’ll be in line to compete for the 5th starter spot (if there is a competition) next year.  If there isn’t a competition, he’ll be in line for either the bullpen, or another team.

SG, how hard is it to include formatting buttons for the comment box? I go mostly with italics when quoting, but I don’t know, maybe blockquotes and certainly a link button would make commenting easier/clearer?

I’ll look into it, it shouldn’t be a big deal.

I think he’ll be in line to compete for the 5th starter spot (if there is a competition) next year

The Yankees should not have a competition for the fifth starter spot next spring.  They should have a battle.  Let all the young guys battle it out.  That way, they’ll all be battle-hardened, and you’ll know who’s ready to battle when you really need someone to step up and to go into battle mode.

Phil…

Maybe just IBB every time from now on. No matter the situation. Even bases loaded.

He threw a curveball in a fastball count, but it didn’t help.

Miguel Cabrera with another HR? 
What’s next?  Jeter with a ground out in the first inning?  Hughes pitch count at 50 in the 2nd?  Nick Johnson with a new injury?

Nothing helps against Cabrera.

Why are the Yankees still pitching to Cabrera at all?

NYT says Clemens will be indicted for lying to Congress.

What are Hughes splits with 3-2 count, seems like he has a lot of trouble with a full count.  No doubt Petitte or Cone would be pitching around Miggy.

Impressive bottom of the first there.

Last night he homered with 0-2 and 1-2 counts shouldn’t Moseley have wasted one in the dirt?

[23] Gamecast says Jeter lined out to 1st and Teix to 2nd - hard hit balls or weak LD?

NYT says Clemens will be indicted for lying to Congress.

You could indict a ham sandwich.

/Still upset Congress wasted time on steroids in baseball

Last night he homered with 0-2 and 1-2 counts shouldn’t Moseley have wasted one in the dirt?

Moseley should have wasted 4 and 3 pitches in the dirt in each of those situations.

Now I know Gamecast is imperfect…but a LOT of pitches it says are strike, are being called as balls.  Except for Porcello, where it looks the other way…thoughts?

You could indict a ham sandwich.

That’s Sol Wachtler’s famous quote, but given how deep Clemens’s pockets are, my guess is they used a slightly higher standard.

[22] .927 OPS against in 72PA.  No idea what league-average is.

Still upset Congress wasted time on steroids in baseball

Agreed.  But Clemens wasn’t subpoenaed.  He demanded that he be allowed to testify in order to clear his name after the Mitchell report and McNamee’s testimony.

Wow, that was like two errors in the making. Hughes can’t catch a break, or a swinging strike.

5 outs, 43 pitches.

30-league split against 855 statistical aberration or Hughes problem?

6/44 looks somewhat better. Still, at this rate, we have got about 15 outs, or 5 innings.

[31] I will agree to the premise that both Clemens and Congress were douchers in this situation.

[33] IDK, could just be small sample size, right?  Honestly don’t know…something else I found on BBRef while looking it up, splits by umpire.  Worst umpire for Hughes this year is Bruce Drekman.  Want to guess 2nd worst (no peeking)?

5 outs, 43 pitches.

Porcello - 5 outs, 15 pitches.

The Return of the WOE.

[32] Hughes gets plenty of swinging strikes on 0-0 and 0-1 counts. It’s the x-2 counts during which he needs more.

You know, Porcello has allowed at least one run in every single start this year but one.

The one against the Yankees on May 12.

Congratulations to Rick Porcello on his first career perfect game.

Congratulations to Rick Porcello on his first career perfect game.

Are they going to retroactively erase Posada’s walk?

A Grandy HR there would have been nice.

SG’s bold prediction taking shape

Bleacher Creatures want to be involved with children with special needs? It may not turn out well.

[41] Posada will be revealed to not have touched a base, or somehow botched a walk.

Anyway, the revised congratulation:

Congratulations to Rick Porcello on his first career perfect game no hitter.

Why Is cabrera going back to the dugout without jogging around the infield? Is he allowed to do that?

Hooray Cabrera didn’t hit a home run!

Hey, Hughes got Cabrerra out.  His number should be retired for that alone…

[47] Miggy knows the 2 run lead will hold up against WOE. Also, he has heard how hitting 40 HR is detrimental to the team.

Shouldn’t Pena be taking on a 3-1 count?

Who the fuck does Pena think he is, swinging away 3-1? What gives him the right?

I’m pretty sick of Busta Rhymes here.

Suzie “Porcello looking very good so far,” but failed to add as did Scherzer and Bullington and Chen and Davies pitched much better then expected and Takahashi looked like Jimmy Key in his prime and so it goes.

According to Gamecast, Detroit is only a 69% favorite to win this game. How did they end up 31% off?

Teix with a stellar back to the plate catch.

Then Granderson makes a better play, while avoiding Gardner.

Teixeira is awesome.

“That’s a gold glove play from a gold glove first baseman.”

Michael Kay.

I think a glove made of gold is probably not going to be helpful in terms of being able to make that play.

That was your standard, run of the mill 7-8 flyout.

Ok, that 0-2 pitch was down the middle. Why wasn’t that strike 3 to Inge?

I really hope we don’t waste yet another good pitching performance.

Imagine how good this defense could be if it had an actual SS instead of the corpse of one.

Ok, that 0-2 pitch was down the middle. Why wasn’t that strike 3 to Inge?

Because Morgan Fairchild here isn’t much of an umpire?

Not much complaining about Hughes pitch count now, is there? He is at 16.25 per inning so far.

[63] Give it time. He is always good for one 40 pitch inning.

61 I could live with Jeter’s D if it weren’t for lines like last night’s batting in the 9th 0fer4 with 3 ground outs and a strike out.  Has Jeter gotten old in a hurry or is he simply out of synch?

What was that?

Congratulations to Rick Porcello on his first career perfect game no hitter complete game shutout.

[67] Yankees are testing how quickly RLYW’ers can edit!

All of a sudden, Fairchild is squeezing Porcello, too.

[67] Quality start?

Congratulations to Rick Porcello on his first career perfect game no hitter complete game shutout victory.

It stays here until proven otherwise.

The Granderson “revamped swing” continues to rock

Miggy still gets at least a couple more PA, so they are still technically behind at least 4-2.

[71] Gonna hold there for a while?  Not that I think he can get 16 more outs in less than 60 pitches…

C’mon Rick, groove one.  You know you don’t want to face Pena w/ the bases loaded…

Edit: Drat!  Was it grooved and Kearns missed it?

You know, maybe Kevin Long should have worked with Curtis Granderson in spring training.

Not that I think he can get 16 more outs in less than 60 pitches…

He can hit Gardner and then get a first pitch GDP from Jeter at least twice, so that’s four outs on four pitches.

[76] Or maybe Kevin Long should work with The Corpse of Derek Jeter™.

granderson takes over the OPS duel w/ AJax by .003

[76] I think he did, but they were reluctant to make too many changes given Granderson’s past success.  Which is understandable…

Truly, aside from making the mistake of not walking Cabrera in the first, Hughes has been pretty ferocious.

It’s very nice to see Hughes rack up a good K total with a lot of swinging strikes. He hasn’t been doing that too much lately.

Can someone explain the significance of this picture?

Gardner needs to work more on his topspin. He is playing far too close to the net. This is not grass court.

[83] The kid between Bloomberg and Cashman was invited to Yankee Stadium yesterday.  I guess he comes from Sierre Leone (sp) and is working hard in the US.  Partial scholarship, and that trip to the NYSE got him an internship.  Or was there something subtler I am missing?

This is not grass court.

It isn’t?

One possible way to speed up the game is to credit Jeter with a GO for each AB instead having to endure him coming to the plate.

Could switching to GEICO save you 15% or more on car insurance?

Is Derek Jeter going to hit a ground ball?

Disclaimer: For the record, I am a lot more sure of the answer to the second question than first. And I don’t work for GEICO.

[83] Reggie is so cool he decided to go with the cruise ship look. Also, Jeter got drunk on the way.

Four in the dirt, if you don’t mind.

IBB?

Sweet!

[86] It is, but he is probably better of treating it as a cement court.

Huugggghhheeesss!

18 outs in 83 pitches. I approve.

Roger Clemens is not very smart, and the Congress is not very productive.

YAY ROBINSON!!!

Huuuuuughes!

It’s so nice when Hughes is good.

Does any lefty hit lovelier ropes to left center than Robby Cano?

What an awesome hitter.

[85] I guess what was somewhat surprising was I didn’t understand why all these people are in suits, and Reggie is not. Tedbrogen with the obvious answer, as usual.
Additionally, why was it only the African American members of the current Yankee squad.

Kid from Sierra Leone? Good for him.

The Wolf!

Cano is unhappy about not getting more MVP consideration. He is out to change that.